If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Time spent w/my Dual Rectifier,..interesting findings.

03-06-2005, 12:31 PM

I tell ya, the more time I spend with this amp the more I'm impressed with the "hidden" tones that this beast can produce. Everyone that buys one (I'm specifically speaking of the 3-ch model) mostly gets it for it's over-the-top gain modes on ch's 2 & 3, ala modern style, and it does do that well. But if you really spend the time there are some fat crunch rhythm, dirty cleans and inbetween stuff that are really nice. Here are some of my "findings":

(A) Extreme Eq settings:

I started a thread about this the other day. I find the best high gain tones are achieved by zero'ing out the bass completely. The tone is tighter and much clearer this way, and there is still plenty of lowend to spare,....bass players are for that anyway. The guitar need to cut through in the mids and highs so this trick works very well. Also, the tone seems less sizzly or "buzzy" as everyone likes to call it,...more meat.

(B) Balancing the Treble and Mid:

The Recto is definitely a tweaker amp, which I actually don't like. But once you've found the settings that work just keep them there. I've found that finding a balance between the Mid and Treble key to getting that "cut" that some people say the Recto lacks on the high gain settings. Don't over use the Mid,..the midrange sweep on this amp is definitely in the low-mid spectrum so using a good amount of Treble can help to emphasize the midrange much better. Also, using EL34's helps a bunch,..I'm running SED's.

(C) "Pushed" mode,...awesome:

I love the Pushed mode on Ch 1, but it takes some more extreme eq tweaks to really make it bark. I max out the Presence and Treble, run the Gain at around 110, Bass at 90 and Mid straight up to 120 and it rules. I can roll back the volume on the guitar and it actually cleans up very nicely, and full volume it's awesome crunch.

(D) Loves the C9 pre's:

This amp really likes the C9 preamp tubes and IMO sounds best with them, especially in V1 and V2.

Very versatile amp IMO. I know most "tone connoisseurs" think this amp is a one trick pony, and most would say it doesn't do that one trick well. But the tones are very good if you spend some time. Anyway,....that's all I wanted to say.

Fight The Bear

Originally Posted by themadscientist

What's with the TGP like attitude around here when it comes to women?

Some people obviously want to get their dick wet, others are waiting for handwired NOS mirage pussy.

Originally Posted by Sheik_Yerbouti

I've had a raging 5153 priapism ever since.

Originally Posted by Oblivion DC

You're confusing Socialists and Hippies. Socialists will slaughter their own for the good of the Collective. Hippies just smell bad.

The Recto series has long been my favorite of all amps, I make no effort to hide that fact, even in the face of "tone connoiseurs", they are far from a one trick pony and a few hours with one hardly gives one enough time to form a solid opinion of them. There is just so much you can do with them and so much versatility built in that it takes several days of fooling around to even find good basic tones, never mind polishing them off and adding external EQ and effects. The EQ section is very responsive on the Recto series and is one of it's best assets. The whole family sounds great, in fact, my favorite of the family has been the Rect-O-Verb combo for a long time, it would suit my at home/seldom gig situation perfectly and will likely be my next amp purchase.

The bass control has a drastic effect on the whole EQ, the more bass you have dialed up, the more sizzle you get, especially in the mid frequencies. Keeping the bass backed down gives you tons of "cut", keeps the low end tight as hell, and still has a lot of "chunk". One of my favorites in Modern mode is low bass and treble, with moderate mids and presence, dark, heavy, chunky, with lot's of cut which gets better with volume.

Another long standing preference of mine on the old Rectos is to clone the red channel on the orange channel and use the Modern voice, it completely changes the feel of the Modern voice. A similar effect can be had on the 3 channel Rectos by using the 2nd channel for Modern and the 3rd channel for Vintage. It just adds a little mojo to the tone on both channels, and it sounds ****************ing great.

I've previously owned a few Mesa amps, including a DC5 head, Studio .22+, a Mark III blue stripe, and had a 2 channel Recto on loan from a friend for 4 months, and the Recto is the king of the pile, I miss it, and look forward to buying a Rect-O-Verb combo sometime within the next few years and take my rightful place in the Mesa clan...

Comment

Originally posted by SLfreak The Recto series has long been my favorite of all amps, I make no effort to hide that fact, even in the face of "tone connoiseurs", they are far from a one trick pony and a few hours with one hardly gives one enough time to form a solid opinion of them. There is just so much you can do with them and so much versatility built in that it takes several days of fooling around to even find good basic tones, never mind polishing them off and adding external EQ and effects. The EQ section is very responsive on the Recto series and is one of it's best assets. The whole family sounds great, in fact, my favorite of the family has been the Rect-O-Verb combo for a long time, it would suit my at home/seldom gig situation perfectly and will likely be my next amp purchase.

The bass control has a drastic effect on the whole EQ, the more bass you have dialed up, the more sizzle you get, especially in the mid frequencies. Keeping the bass backed down gives you tons of "cut", keeps the low end tight as hell, and still has a lot of "chunk". One of my favorites in Modern mode is low bass and treble, with moderate mids and presence, dark, heavy, chunky, with lot's of cut which gets better with volume.

Another long standing preference of mine on the old Rectos is to clone the red channel on the orange channel and use the Modern voice, it completely changes the feel of the Modern voice. A similar effect can be had on the 3 channel Rectos by using the 2nd channel for Modern and the 3rd channel for Vintage. It just adds a little mojo to the tone on both channels, and it sounds ****************ing great.

I've previously owned a few Mesa amps, including a DC5 head, Studio .22+, a Mark III purple stripe, and had a 2 channel Recto on loan from a friend for 4 months, and the Recto is the king of the pile, I miss it, and look forward to buying a Rect-O-Verb combo sometime within the next few years and take my rightful place in the Mesa clan...

I own a Tremoverb combo in addition to the Dual Rectifier head. Both have their own thing going on but are cut from the same cloth. I gotta say, I'm a huge fan of Recto's too,...I think they get a bad rap a lot of time for just being a Nu-Metal amp, etc. They are far from just that.

Fight The Bear

Originally Posted by themadscientist

What's with the TGP like attitude around here when it comes to women?

Some people obviously want to get their dick wet, others are waiting for handwired NOS mirage pussy.

Originally Posted by Sheik_Yerbouti

I've had a raging 5153 priapism ever since.

Originally Posted by Oblivion DC

You're confusing Socialists and Hippies. Socialists will slaughter their own for the good of the Collective. Hippies just smell bad.

Marshall 30th 6100LM - versatile Marshall...not quite what I was expecting in a good way (versatile) and a bad way (I definately came to the decision I prefer EL34 type tubes over 6L6) Lovely cleans(6L6 probably helps here :-/) and the 'crunch' channel is great....nice to have 3 gain ranges to play with....6 of you double 'em up with a pedal in front :-D

Randal RM50HB - ended up winning two auctions, kept the modules...sold the head. Nice amp but decided to keep the RM100.

Randall RM100M - still here, still digging the Plexi, Recto and Ultra modules...have an XTC on the way

Comment

one of the coolest things i found with my 3 ch. was the dirty cleans i could get from channel 3 in raw mode with the gain WAY down...hit that with my crystal chorus in front and it's just beautiful!!! btw i'm running EH el34's

that's the ONLY edge the mesa has over my framus, the cobra can't get a good dirty clean without an OD...by the same token, the mesa can't get a lead tone i like without an OD (use channel 2 vintage for all my high gain needs)

i was also suprised how good the clean channel sounded, after hearing forever how horrible the mesa cleans were and even being unimpressed with them in the store...with some new tubes and (very) little tweaking i had a clean singing form channel 1 that i was quite satisfied with

@ $1000 for the head (with bigfoot) and $120 for a 1/2" ply roadcase, i'm very happy with my backup rig

Comment

hey guys, don't suppose you'd mind sharing some of those settings, though I realize your dual or triple rects might be different. I'l be joining the mesa clan very soon with a rectoverb 50 watt head. (whoever made the comment about the rectoverb head sounding like crap, you scared me Perhaps it just needed new tubes?

Should be a nice jump from my ashdown peacemaker 20 watt combo to a 50 watt rectoverb head into my 2x12 eminence wizards loaded avatar cab

Perhaps you guys could tell me if there is a really big issue with th effects loops like I hear some people menion phasing and whatnot? I've got a big pedal board and wondering if thats going to go to waste?

"She's all concerned with stupid girly bull**************** like...getting out of debt....savings accounts....etc. etc. BOOOOORRRRING!!!
How in the **************** is that going to help me to rock?" - Thelonius

"Don't do the flashcards. Funny in theory, deadly in reality when the ahole becomes infuriated at his own inadeqaucy and shoots you on the spot. " - Taganov

Comment

I dont care what anyone says, I have a 2 channel dual recto and mine just sings. I can pull off a lot of amazing tones. Pushing the clean channel can get plexi like. But I am in love with this amp. Its definately not a "nu metal" amp.

I haven't gotten into the higher gain sounds as much since i'm in my room at home. But all 3 definitely have their own feel. And I think I'l be spending a lot of hours just tweaking the eq.

When I plugged this head into my 2x12 avatar cab with Wizards, I could almost make it sound like a deluxe reverb reissue (or apparently it might have been a vibrolux) on the clean tone with the presence at about half way and reverb at about half. Not exactly the same but an awesome bouncing full clean tone thats really sweet.

I can get much better cleans on this amp then my ashdown peacemaker that didnt' have a lot of headroom and it was more marshallesque.

"She's all concerned with stupid girly bull**************** like...getting out of debt....savings accounts....etc. etc. BOOOOORRRRING!!!
How in the **************** is that going to help me to rock?" - Thelonius

"Don't do the flashcards. Funny in theory, deadly in reality when the ahole becomes infuriated at his own inadeqaucy and shoots you on the spot. " - Taganov